Railway car



Patented Oct. 21, 1924.

UNLTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUG-H W. SANFORD, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

RAILWAY CAR.

Application filed May 13,

To all whom it may concer/n:

me it known that l, HUGH lV. SANFORD, a citizen` of the United. States, residing at Knonville,.in the county of Knox and Statev of Tennessee, have invented a new and useiullmproyement in Railway Cars, of which tlie:fol-lowing is a specification, reference'being had to the-accompanying drawing.

.My improvement relates particularly to railway cars in which provision is made for dumping al load or loose material through the bottom of the car at a chosen point on a railway track.

'llhe object of my improvement is to pro- Vide a railway car of economical and durable construction and which is adapted to the automatic opening of thev bottom forv dumping and the subsequent automatic closing of the bottom preparatory to receiving a new load, and particularly to provide a construction which will permit rearward movement oi. the car without damage to the structure when the bottom of the car has-accidentally opened, and further to provide a car which will carry a maximum load with a low construction, thus adapting the car to travel where there is low head room;

For a. car of. the saine general ,type, reference is made to my United States Paten@ Nor-1,268,390, grantedv .lune et, 19,158,` for ,an improvement in railwaysl Iii-that patent there is disclosed-a car'having, a. plurality of hinged bottom doors, the door at the rear of thefcar haying at its rea-r edge faz tongue which is-normally engaged by a `latch mechanism supported on the end of thecar and which maybe released` manually onautomatically when the discharge point nvthe tra-ek has been reached, such point being ordinarily a tipple whereon is provid?- ed a cam sov positioned as to bear against the bot-toms of the doors successively and push them upward into the closed position, during the forward movement of the car after the load in the car has been dumped.

I-nthegpresent' improvement, one door is substituted for the three doors of said patent, as will be hereinafter described.

ln the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is a section along the upright, middle, longitudinal plane of the car;

Fig. 2 is a transverse, upright section on the line, 2-2, of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an upright longitudinal section 1921. :Serial No. 469,213.

similar `to Fig'. l, some parts being omitted, andthe free end of .the bottom door resting on: the `track surface.

vRicienring.to saiddrawingaA, A are track rails. B, .B are ordinary car wheels applied tothe:end-s` of theaxles C, C, which extend. transversely acrossthe body of. the car. D, D are side sills;v E, El are end sills. F is the upper part of the car body.

G is a shaftextending acrosstlie car. body horizontally and parallel to the inner tace ot vone of vthe end sills .and having its ends resting; in the side sills.

H sthe bottom door.. This extends beneath the axles, C, C, `andlls the space between the yside sills. Itsv rear. -end eXtends close-'tothe shaft, fdr, and is secured .thereto byy a hinge, H1.V At .each side1 edge, said door has an upwardfdirected flange, H2, which serves to stiff-en ,the door .and to allow the doortoextendalong the lower edges ot the side sills. The door is long relative to the height oi' its' hinge labove the track surface, Si

A; tongue, H4, is attachedL to themidfd-le otheA free endy edge of the door. Said latch is to be engaged by latch mechanism supportedA on thexadjacent end ot the car,l as described in` the aboiofmentioned patent.

Said latch. mechanism; .comprises two angle levers, 1,.hinged to the endl of. 'the car above at lil' andeach having a'- long arm eX- tendinghorizontally outward liar enough to beengaged by a stationary cam located besidethieqtrack for lifting said ends, as described in saidpa-tent.

The other anms-olsaid levers are directed downward and each hasa hoek, l2, adapted tno-*extend beneath the tongue, 'H .and` supportuthe latter whe'nftlie: door is inthe raised or. closedposition. Y

When the. out-er ends-oi; the long arms of said' levers are raised,the tongue, H, is released' trom-said hooks.y flfhenl thev` door is free to fall. for the discharge Vof the load ing/the carl` -When 4the door is again pressed upward, the tongueI Hjs forced .upward between the hooks, l2, the latter being forced sidewise until the tongue is above the hooks, whereupon the levers tilt, by reason of the downward pressure of the long arms, until the hooks are again under said tongue. This operation is similar to the operation of the latch mechanism described in my said patent.y

The movement of the car toward the unloading station is toward the left as viewed in Figs. l and 3, the hinge end of the door going forward.

Now attention is especially invited to three features: (l) the door is relatively long and between its ends it is curved downward so as to bring the greater part of the door as close to the track as feasible, whereby the car may be made low and yet carry a relatively large load, and whereby greater stability is given to the car, the load being close to the rails; (2) the length of the doorY adapts the door to remain nearly parallel to the track surface, S, if the latch mechanism accidentally releases the door so that the free end of the door goes downward and rests upon the track surface; (3) the free 'end of the door, the end which bears the tongue, H4, is curved upward as indicated by H3, so that said end of the door is made to resemble the forward end of a sled runner and is adapted to slide on the track surface when the car is moving backward and the door has accidentally been released and its latch end rests on the track surface.

The purpose of this sliding or sled action of the door is to prevent the end of the door from jamming into the track surface and wrecking the car structure and perhaps derailing the cars. The length of the door and the appropriate shaping of the latch end of the door contribute to forming a door adapted to such sled action. When a plurality of bottom doors are used, the inclination of the doors to the track surface is much increased, each door being short relative to the height of its hinge above the track surface.

The curvature of the part, H3, of the door may be increased by placing the latch mechanism higher than shown in the drawings.

As above stated, the flanges, H2 placed the edges of the door aid in stiffening the d oor. It will be understood that theseflanges may be of any desired height and strength, and that similar stifening flanges may extend along the middle of the door. Sagging of the door between its ends will be further resisted by the engagement of the tongue, H4, with the latch members, the free end ofthe tongue being bentl downward to resemble a hook engaging the latch members to prevent horizontal movement.

lt is also to be noted that when the long single door is accidentally released and rests on the track surface, on account of the low slant there will be a relatively small leakage of coal'from the car. Y

l claim as my invention,

l. The combination of a car body, axles extending across and supporting said body, wheels carrying said axles, a relatively long bottom door extending under said axles and hinged by one end to one end of the car body and having its other end upturned and reaching to the other end of the car, and latch mechanism for engaging said upturned end of the door, substantially as described. Y

2. The combination of a car body, axles extending across and supporting said body, wheels carrying said axles, a relatively long bottom door curved downward between its ends and extending under said axles and hinged by one end to one endof the Car body and having its other .end upturned sled-fashion and reaching to the other end of the car, and latch mechanism for engaging said upturned end of the door, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a car body, axles extending across and supporting said body, wheels carrying said axles, a relativelylong bottom door extending under'said axles and hinged by one end to one end of theV car bodyv andhaving its other end upturned and reaching to the other end of the car, a tongue on said upturned end of the door, and latch mechanism for engaging said tongue, substantially as described.

4. TheV combination of a car body, a transverse shaft at one end of the car body, axles extending across and supporting said body., wheels carrying said axles, a relatively long bottom door extending under said axles and hinged by one end to one end of the car body and having its other end upturned andV reaching to the other end of the car, and latch mechanism for engaging said upturned end of the door, substantially as-described.

5. The combination of a car body, axles extending across and supporting said body, wheels carrying said axles, a relatively long bottom door extending under said axles and hinged by one end to one end of the car body and having its other end upturned and reaching to the other endof the car, a hookform tongue on said upturned end of the door, and latch mechanism for engaging said tongue, substantially as described.

n testimony whereof I have signed my name, this second day of May, inthe year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one.

HUGH w. sANroaD,

lll) 

